Mumbai: NCB proposes charges against Rhea Chakraborty, 34 others in drugs case

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Wednesday has submitted its proposed charges against 35 accused including actor Rhea Chakraborty in the drugs case related to actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

In the draft charges, the agency has proposed stringent sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act - including that of Sec 27A pertaining to illicit trafficking and harbouring offenders, which could attract a minimum of 10 years imprisonment up to 20 years in prison. The agency has retained the charges it had invoked against them in its voluminous 11,700 page chargesheet filed last March.

Among those against whom charges are proposed along with Rhea are her brother Showik Chakraborty, the late actor’s house manager Samuel Miranda, cook Dipesh Sawant and brother of actor Arjun Rampal’s partner Agisilaos Demetriades. Among the 35 accused, several are alleged to be drug peddlers through whom drugs were procured. Most of the accused have secured bail.

After the draft charges are filed by the prosecution, some accused may choose to seek discharge from the case or from some of the charges proposed against them. The court will then frame charges against the accused if it finds sufficient evidence for them to stand trial under the charges. The framing of charges by the court paves the way for the trial to begin.

In its chargesheet filed last year, the NCB had alleged that Rhea and some of Rajput’s house staff had helped procure drugs and supplied it to him. It had annexed statements of around 160 witnesses as well as WhatsApp chats as part of the evidence against the accused. The chargesheet had been filed against 33 accused, after which two arrests had taken place, taking the number of accused to 35.